Fall 2022 English 1301 Syllabus

Instructor:  Aisha Breed-Thomas

Email:  aisha.breed@humbleisd.net or aisha.breed-thomas@lonestar.edu

Phone:  281-641-7337

Office Hours: Tuesday 8 a.m.-8:30 a.m and 1p.m.- 1:30 p.m.

Course Information

Course Subject and Number: ENGL 1301

Course Section: 

Course Title: Composition & Rhetoric I

Credit Hours: 3

Term and Year: Fall 2022

Course Location: Guy M. Sconzo Early College High School Rm. 1204

Course Days and Times: MW 9:30-4:30, TTH 9:30-4:30

Prerequisites:  College Level Readiness in Reading AND Writing; or concurrent enrollment in ENGL 0119 or ENGL 0219 based on placement scores; or concurrent enrollment in ESOL 0332 based on placement scores. 

Catalog Description:

3 Credits (3 hrs. lec.) Intensive study and practice in writing processes, from invention and researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively. Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and style. Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and critical analysis. 

Learning Outcomes:  Upon successful completion of this course, students will… 

•  Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes.

•  Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution, following standard style guidelines in documenting sources.

•  Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.

•  Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts.

•  Use edited American English in academic essays.

Core Curriculum Statement: [use verbatim] This is a class in the Core Curriculum as administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.  This course is designed to provide instruction in the following Core Objective(s):

1. Critical Thinking Skills:   To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information.

2. Communication Skills:   To include effective written, oral, and visual communication.

3. Teamwork:  To include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal.

4. Personal Responsibility:   To include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making.

Class Theme or Approach:

If you want to write your own course description (theme for you class or how you teach it, etc.), you can do that, but label it separately from the catalog description, and you cannot change the catalog description.

Required Texts: 

The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings 5E

ISBN: 9780393617368

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

ISBN: 9780812993547

Grading Scale [use verbatim]: 
A = 100–90;    B = 89–80;    C = 79–70;    D = 69–60;    F = 59–0

Grade Distribution:

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

Official Day of Record: Students who have not attended an in-class meeting or participated in an online class prior to the official day of record will be dropped from the course without exception, September 12th, 2022.

Last Day to Withdraw: November 14th, 2022.

Policies

Attendance and Participation: In accordance with the Sconzo Early College High School and Humble ISD Attendance Policies: Late arrival to class will result in a tardy.  Arrival more than 10 minutes late will result in an Unexcused Absence. Participation points are only given when in class.  

Late and Make-up Work:  Late formative assignments are accepted up to 5 school days after the due date with a penalty of 20 points per day.  It is up to the student to speak with the facilitator after class if tardy and upon the return date from being absent to ask for assignments.  

Late summative will be accepted during the week before the next class period.  All late summative assignments will have 10% deducted from their final grade. Students have one free late summative assignment that must be submitted within 5 school days of the due date. Any other late summative assignments after the one free late will have 10% deducted from the total final grade.   

Academic Integrity: The Lone Star College upholds the core values of learning: honesty, respect, fairness, and accountability. The system promotes the importance of personal and academic honesty. The system embraces the belief that all learners—students, faculty, staff, and administrators—will act with integrity and honesty and must produce their own work and give appropriate credit to the work of others. Fabrication of sources, cheating, or unauthorized collaboration is not permitted on any work submitted with the system.

Specific information including definitions of Academic Misconduct, reporting Academic misconduct, investigation and hearing procedures can be found at:

https://www.lonestar.edu/3550.htm

The consequences for academic dishonesty are determined by the professor, or the professor and academic dean, or the professor and chief student services officer and can include but are not limited to:

1. Having additional class requirements imposed

2. Receiving a grade of zero or “F” for an exam or assignment

3. Receiving a grade of “F” for the course

4. Being withdrawn from the course or program

5. Being expelled from the college system

Any alleged violation or flagrant disregard of LSC rules and regulations shall be brought to the attention of the chief student services officer, who will initiate an investigation of the situation. After a complete and thorough investigation, the chief student services officer will determine the course of action. Discipline may result in expulsion. The decision of the administrator may be appealed to the college discipline committee. The complete discipline policy may be found online at https://www.lonestar.edu/departments/academicaffairsstusuccess/student-handbook-2021-2022.pdf

Academic Appeals:  Before a student may bring an academic appeal, he or she should first meet with the instructor to request that a change be made. If the student is not satisfied with the outcome or cannot consult with the instructor, he or she must meet with the appropriate Dean to determine if a resolution can be reached. If the student is not satisfied with the action taken at the informal level, the student may file a formal complaint.

The College recognizes a student’s right to consistent and relevant forms of assessment. An academic appeal is a formal request brought by a student to change a grade for the reasons below. Students have 12 calendar months from the date the grade was posted by the registrar to submit an academic appeal. A grade may only be changed by the instructor of record, the instructor’s department chair, the academic dean, or the Academic Appeals Committee. Should an instructor of record’s employment end or otherwise become incapacitated or unavailable, the department chair, or the academic dean may enter grades on the incapacitated or unavailable faculty member.

• A student must meet one of three requirements in order to qualify to file an academic appeal. The student must have some evidence that there exists at the time of the appeal: (1) a mathematical error in the grade’s calculation, (2) a deviation—by the instructor—from the course syllabus or the College’s policy manual (this document), or (3) disparate treatment of the student not covered by EEO (e.g., race, color, sex, and etc.) policies. Any basis for appeal outside of those three categories will not be considered and the College will simply inform the student of this policy and refuse to process the appeal. 

• An appeal will not be considered merely because the student is dissatisfied with a grade or disagrees with the instructor’s professional judgment of the quality of the student’s work or performance.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism falls under “Academic Integrity” and is defined as theft of another person's words or ideas. Plagiarism includes submitting any part of another person's essay as your own as well as copying words or ideas from any other source including the Internet without proper acknowledgment and documentation. All quotations and paraphrases must be properly documented in the MLA parenthetical form. All student summaries, discussion, homework, and essays are to be original work and created this semester for this class.

Plagiarism will result in 

1. Receiving a grade of zero or “F” for an exam or assignment

2. Cheating and Plagiarism is considered a conduct violation and is subject to additional disciplinary measures as discussed in the Student Code of Conduct.

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else’s work as your own

• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

• failing to put a quotation (someone else’s words) in quotation marks

• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

• any assignment submitted to turnitin.com that has 30% or more similarity is considered plagiarized and will receive a 0.  The assignment cannot be made up.  

• Please review the LSCS Academic Integrity Statements for any further clarification.

Communication Policy:  Communication is best directed to abreed@humbleisd.net or aisha.breed-thomas@lonestar.edu through the course learning management system Schoology and a response will be given within 24 hours Monday through Friday.  Every effort will be made for a timely response for emails sent on weekends, holidays, and institutional breaks when offices are closed. 

Kingwood Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement: Lone Star College-Kingwood is committed to offering a learning environment that promotes the study of varied perspectives. The topics that are covered in college courses are often challenging, academically and emotionally; this allows students to assess basic assumptions, take agency over learning, and engage in dialogue with empathy for classmates. We will talk about differing ideas without being confrontational, respect all experiences and cultures, and maintain respect for others and their perspectives. We embrace diversity, we advance equity, and we cultivate inclusion.

Academic Freedom Statement: Dual credit courses are college courses. On college and university campuses, the free exchange of ideas is encouraged and expected. The same will be true in a dual credit course. Censorship of ideas or opinions runs counter to the openness of the learning environment and inhibits the development of critical thinking skills.  Understand that students who enroll in dual credit courses may be exposed to, and will be expected to participate in, open exchanges of ideas, discussions, debates, and even class assignments concerning subject matter that is challenging, mature and/or representative of differing worldviews, just as they would on a college campus.

Lone Star College System Policies:

Please use the following link to find ALL LSC policies, procedures, and student success information.  It is your personal, academic, and legal responsibility to know and adhere to the information provided.

http://www.lonestar.edu/syllabus-policies

Other Class Policies: 

Food: Unless you have a 504 accommodation stating otherwise, please no food (specifically fast food) cannot be consumed in my classroom.  Small snacks are welcomed.  Please make sure to throw away all wrappers, bags, etc.  If in the event this is not followed, all food will be discontinued.  

Tutorials: Tuesday’s 8-8;30am and 1pm-1:30pm

Essay Expectations: All essays must be submitted in MLA format.  There are no exceptions.  Essays submitted without MLA format will receive an automatic 50%.  

Essay Grading Framework: 

A The grade of A means that a paper excels in most or all of the following ways:

1. Treatment of the subject shows good critical intelligence, careful workmanship, and originality.

2. Organization is so clear that the reader knows at all times what the purpose is and how the writer intends to accomplish it.

3. Paragraphs are coherent and are developed as fully as their function demands.

4. Sentences are clear in meaning and so constructed as to contribute precisely and effectively to the writer’s purpose.

5. Choice of words is exact, appropriate, and sensitive.

6. Strategies of analysis/argument are employed successfully and persuasively, and the paper demonstrates depth of critical thinking.

7. Mechanics is flawless, or almost flawless.

8. Documentation is perfect, or has few minor errors.

In other words, A papers are excellent.

B The grade of B means that a paper is good.

1. Treatment of the subject shows some originality and better than average ability to relate ideas.

2. Organization is clear, though lacking the full clarity and tight coherence of A-level work.

It is appropriate to the subject and purpose.

3. Paragraphs are reasonably unified, coherent, and well developed.

4. Sentences are generally fluent and clear and are sufficiently varied to make for an easy style.

5. Words are used precisely and with some attention to stylistic appropriateness.

6. Strategies of analysis/argument are employed successfully and persuasively, but don’t demonstrate as much depth of critical thinking or make as much of an impact as in A-level work.

7. Mechanics conforms to accepted usage.

8. Documentation is accurate.

In other words, B papers are above average work.

C The grade of C means that a paper is rather routine in its total effect.

1. Treatment of the subject is acceptable but lacks distinction.

2. Organization is fairly clear; a central idea is systematically treated.

3. Paragraph development shows little originality; paragraph structure shows some coherence but tends to be loose and uneconomical.

4. Sentences are correct and are sufficiently linked to make for continuity. Generally, however, the style if flat, and the meaning is not always clear.

5. Choice of words is generally appropriate but shows little attention to effect.

6. Strategies of analysis/argument are considered, but are not completely successful. Critical thinking is adequate.

7. There are some mistakes in mechanics.

8. Documentation is close to accurate.

In other words, C papers are average work.

D The grade of D means that a paper has a number of the following weaknesses:

1. Treatment of the subject tends to be thin, vague, or trite.

2. Organization is not clear or effective.

3. Paragraphs tend to be incoherent and poorly developed.

4. Sentences are generally awkward or overly simple and show little awareness of style. Their meaning is frequently not clear.

5. Choice of words is often imprecise, inappropriate, or trite.

6. Strategies of analysis/argument are barely considered. Critical thinking is surface-level.

7. There are a number of errors in mechanics.

8. Documentation is faulty.

In other words, D papers are below, though do approach, average work.

F The grade of F means that a paper falls below minimum requirements. It has a number of the following weaknesses:

1. Treatment of the subject is thin, vague, or trite.

2. The paper lacks a distinct beginning, middle, and ending.

3. Paragraphs obviously lack unity and are poorly developed.

4. Sentences are awkward or are constructed in primer style. Many are not clear.

5. Choice of words is frequently inexact or inept.

6. Strategies of analysis/argument are not considered or are faulty. Critical thinking is surface-level, missing, or inadequate.

7. There are too many errors in mechanics.

8. Documentation is not considered or is faulty.

In other words, F papers do not approach average work.

Course Schedule:

*Dates and assignments are tentative and may be changed or adjusted as needed.